San Francisco Area

San Francisco CSA members at annual Spring meeting.

Live Power Offerings
Other Farm Offerings
Distribution
How to Join

LIVE POWER OFFERINGS

Live Power Community Farm grows Demeter-certified Biodynamic vegetables. It is a non-mechanized farm that uses horses and human labor in the fields. Members' share cost is $1,025 (2008 season), which includes $184 for transportation from the farm to San Francisco. Costs are adjusted annually reflecting the farm's operating budget. Below is a table showing what is typically in a vegetable share (but note that items may vary due to natural causes).

	Quantities
Vegetable	Season	Weekly	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov
Arugula	8 bn.	1 bn.
Basil	8 lbs.	.50 lbs.
Beans	12 lbs.	1.0 lb.
Beets	15 lbs.	.75 lb.
Broccoli	18 lbs.	1.5 lbs.
Cabbage	7 ea.	1 ea.
Cabbage, Chinese	2 ea.	0.5 ea.
Carrots	30 lbs.	1 lbs.
Cauliflower	4 hd.	1 ea.
Chard, Swiss	6 lbs.	0.5 lb.
Corn	72 ea.	6 ea.
Cucumber	50 ct.	3 ea.
Eggplant	30 ct.	1.0 lb.
Garlic	24 bulbs	2 bulbs
Herbs, Assorted	10 bn.	1 bn.
Kale	9 bn.	1 bn.
Kholrabi	6 ea	2 ea.
Komatsuna	5 bn.	1 bn.
Kyona/Mizuna	12 sm. bn.	1 sm. bn.
Leeks	30 ea.	6 ea.
Lettuce	100 ea.	4 ea.
Melon, Cantaloupe	8 ea.	2 ea.
Melon, Honeydew etc.	7 ea.	1 ea.
Mustard	8 bn.	1 bn.
Onions	40 ea.	2 ea.
Orach	1 bn.	1 bn.
Pac choy, Baby	12 ea.	1 ea.
Parsley	12 sm. bn.	1 sm. bn.
Parsnips	2 lbs.	0.5 lb.
Peas, Snap	5 lbs.	0.5 lb.
Peas, Snow	4 lbs.	0.5 lb.
Pepper, Hot	32 ea.	4 ea.
Pepper, Sweet	40 ea.	3 ea.
Pie Pumpkin	2 ea.	1 ea.
Potatoes	50 lbs.	2.5 lbs.
Radishes	10 bn.	1 bn.
Rutabaga	6 lbs.	1 lbs.
Scallions	8 bn.	6 ea.
Shungiku	4 bn.	1 bn.
Spinach	18 lbs.	1 lb.
Squash, Summer	60 ct.	2-3 ct.
Squash, Winter	20 ct.	2 ct.
Tatsoi	10 bn.	1 bn.
Tomatoes	50 lbs.	3 lbs.
Tomatoes, Cherry	12 bsk.	2 bsk
Turnips	10 lbs.	1 lb.
Vitagreen	12 bn.	1 bn.
Watermelon	4 ea.	1 ea.

Splitting shares. The basket you receive each week is designed at the height of the season to provide vegetables for a family of four. During the first few weeks of the season, the baskets are smaller and the variety is based partly on what grows early in the season and partly on what the weather has allowed. About half of our members split their shares, and you may also want to split. If you decide to split a share, we recommend finding a share partner that is known to you: a friend, a neighbor, a relative, or a colleague at work, and working out the logistics with them. Occasionally, we have individuals on our waiting list who need a share partner.

OTHER FARM OFFERINGS

Fruit Share from Good Humus Produce. Good Humus will continues to provide us with Stellar-certified organic fruit for the whole season. The fruit share will also include fruit (peaches, pluots, apples, Asian pears, and possibly some cherries) from Filigreen Farm which uses biodynamic growing practices. The price is $445, which includes $86 for transportation. The fruit share remains optional, and people who split a vegetable share can choose to receive two fruit shares.

Flower Share from Good Humus Produce. Annie Main's beautiful, seasonal bouquets are available to members. Spring bouquets have sweet peas, larkspur, and some godetias and irises. Summer and fall include sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, straw flowers, dahlias, and more. The price is $230 for the season which includes one bouquet each week.

Egg Share from Clark Summit Farm. Clark Summit, located on Tomales Bay, will provide shares of pastured eggs. A share is one dozen eggs per week and will cost $203.

Chicken Share from Mendocino Organics. Adam Gaska is raising "Fred" chickens for 9 weeks this season (last year it was 8 weeks), so they will grow bigger with a slightly higher fat content. Feet and giblets will be included with each share. The price is $105 for one 3 lb., organic, free-range chicken delivered fresh once a month during the season (6 deliveries).

Brown Rice Shares from Massa Organics . Massa Organics is a local family farm that grows organically certified whole grain brown rice. We are offering either a small, 4 pound share at $6 or a large, 40 pound share at $50. There will be two deliveries during the season, one in May and one in November (a half share at each delivery).

Pork Share from Frazier Lane Organics . Organically fed on pasture grass, high quality organic fee and kitchen and garden scraps soaked in raw milk, these Duroc and Hampshire hogs live as a family with little to no stress, which results in the highest quality meat. Each share will be 40 pounds consisting of some of the standard cuts (prime cuts, ham steaks, ground pork and bacon) along with some tasty surprises. The cured meats are treated with minimum state requirements of nitrates, and the pork will be professionally wrapped and deep frozen. A share will cost $360 and will come in four deliveries of 10 pounds each roughly 1 and 1/2 months apart. If you'd like to try this amazing pork but can't commit to a full share, we're also offering a one-time share for $100 to be delivered in June.

Blueberry Share from Filigreen Farm. Biodynamic blueberries come from Filigreen in Boonville. The share consists of 6 baskets of 6 ounces each for 8 deliveries during June, July and August and costs $160. Members can order more than 1 share, or can consider splitting a share with a friend or neighbor. The delivery dates may shift due to ripening conditions, but we're confident that there will be 8 deliveries.

Grain Share from Windborne Farm. Windborne’s farmer, Jennifer Greene, grows organic grains, beans, and small seeds. Grains are ground into fresh flours. Deliveries are once a month as part of the regular sort. A grain share includes 12 to 14 lbs. of grains each month, for example: 2 lbs. of hard red wheat flour (for baking bread), 2 lbs. of pastry flour, 2 lbs. hot cereal mix, 2 lbs. pancake mix, 2 lbs. beans (for example pintos, red beans, lentils, or garbanzos), 2 lbs. cornmeal, and 1 lb. whole grain (such as millet or amaranth). The grain shares are for one year, with new sign ups due in April, and the first delivery is the beginning of June. To request an application, contact Jennifer at windborne3csa@yahoo.com, and provide your name, mailing address, and phone number so she can send you the full information.

DISTRIBUTION

Members share in the work of the farm by sorting and delivering food. Rather than making individual portions, the farmers pack each week’s harvest for the group. Someone from the farm delivers the food to the sort location in the Presidio in northwest San Francisco each Friday night, where it is stored overnight in a cooler.

At the beginning of each season, after the CSA has been divided into clusters of 5 to 7 shares by geographic proximity, cluster members meet to work out the details for the season. Each week one member from each cluster meets Saturday morning at 8 a.m. to sort the items into baskets and then deliver them to their group. Each full-share member may have to sort and deliver 3 to 6 times during the season, depending on the size of the cluster and the length of the season. The other weeks’ deliveries are made to your door.

There are a few exceptions to this distribution plan. Because they are spread out, sometimes a cluster has a drop site where members pick up their shares. The East Bay is in Berkeley, and the Marin location is in Mill Valley.

If you are a new member, you will be assigned to a cluster, the group of families in your neighborhood. You will be contacted by your cluster leader, who will give you additional information about the CSA and the sorting schedule for the vegetables. Each new shareholder is asked to purchase two baskets, which will be used in the sorting and distribution process.

Sometimes a full share is too much and two households will split a share. Each cluster decides how to include split shares in the sort schedule.

Newsletters are published every week or two with news from the farm, recipes, and other items of interest.

HOW TO JOIN

If you are interested in joining, please complete an email request form. These are accepted at any time although membership is finalized April 1 for the summer season, which begins the first week of May, and December 1 for the winter season, which begins the first week of January. If there is not space in the CSA for the upcoming season, we will put you on the waiting list for the next season and will contact you at that time to verify your continued interest.

A membership packet is sent out to existing and prospective members in mid-February for the summer season (29 weeks from May to November) and in mid-October for the winter season (17 weeks from January to April). The packet includes a letter from the farmers about the upcoming season, a description of the offerings and share costs, and a commitment and payment form. Interested people return the commitment form with a deposit to reserve a share. Priority is given to returning members.

If you are interested in splitting a share and do not have a partner in mind, please indicate that in your email request form. Sometimes (but not always) we can match you with another household in your area.

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